Technology, Marketing, Business Process Management and Disaster Recovery Solutions for Small and Medium Sized Businesses

September 24, 2009

MMS Gaining Mobile Advertising Popularity

SMS, or text messages, have been used for advertising for several years. But as MMS enabled phones gain in market penetration advertisers are starting to use this media rich technology for advertising. MMS offers many more options for customer engagement. This article provides research from a recent Aberseen survey.
Dialing Into Mobile MarketingCRM BuyerWhile SMS remains the most widely used messaging vehicle for mobile marketing, Aberdeen research shows that MMS is also gaining in popularity. ...

September 23, 2009

SMBs Not Prepared for Disaster

Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs) are not preparing for disaster recovery according to a survey conducted by Symantec. A few simple steps could mean the difference between a company shutting down or thriving immediately after disaster strikes.

SkyMall Increases Sales with Customer Re-engagement

As I've said many times before, the most successful marketing and advertising campaigns are the culmination of several tools and techniques working seamlessly together to engage customers and drive conversion. SkyMall gets it.

Facebook Partners with Nielsen for Social Media Measurement

Facebook's revenue is created almost soley from advertising revenue. But how do you defend your ad rates without trusted metrics? Add Nielsen Ratings as your partner, of course. This will add the credibility that Facebook needs to drive ad revenue in the coming years from advertisers wary of social media options that usually lack traditional advertising metrics.

Google Host of Your Next Application?

Cloud computing lowers infrastructure costs for businesses while (sometimes) increasing flexibility, uptime, resiliency, etc. Google is one of the first movers in this space and certainly the largest. I can't argue with this article discussing how Google cloud computing might revolutionize the way we think of software and application development.

Dell Buys Perot Systems - Sign of Recovery?

Dell purchasing Perot Systems, the enterprise technology services firm, points to signs that technology services will be in demand in the near future. This must surely be a sign of recovery for the US economy. Or is Dell just chasing huge increases in health care and the federal government to support Obama's proposed plans?
Dell forks out $3.9 billion for Perot SystemsCheap Laptops (blog)Forrester Research analyst, Paul Roehrig says the Perot deal offers them plenty of opportunities in the health care and federal space. ...

Tips for How Much to Spend on Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery is essential for ensuring your business survives in rough times, but how much should you spend on the planning, technology and services required to enact your disaster recovery plan? This article provides a few pointers.
Making the most out of your disaster recovery budgetsSearch StorageBy Garry Kranz Figuring out how much to spend on disaster recovery (DR) isalways difficult for organizations, but shrinking IT budgets make theproblem ...<http://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid190_gci1365372,00.html>

September 15, 2009

How to Catch Dirty Vendor Tricks

Ahhh... the tricks vendors will play when trying to sell software. This is agreat list of tricks vendors use quite often to "make the sale" right before socking you with a large bill for other neccesary services.

Online Marketing Should Combine TV and Web

Online marketing is part of the overall marketing mix. Treating it as the only element of your marketing plan ignores many time proven, and still relevant, marketing channels:

Tess Alps, chief executive at Thinkbox, emphasised the relationship between the internet and TV at this month's Westminster Media Forum Keynote Seminar: The Future of Advertising, observing that online brands such as Compare the Meerkat are seeing great success via the medium of television.

Online marketing services 'should incorporate TV and the web'

by ClickThrough | 14 Sep 2009

Television and the web complement each other well and online marketers could benefit from using the two together in their advertising strategies, an industry expert has suggested.

Tess Alps, chief executive at Thinkbox, emphasised the relationship between the internet and TV at this month's Westminster Media Forum Keynote Seminar: The Future of Advertising, observing that online brands such as Compare the Meerkat are seeing great success via the medium of television.

"People concurrently watching TV and being online makes television a point of sale medium," she said, adding that those involved in online PR are only just beginning to understand the effects of TV on web traffic.

Low Cost Business Process Management Software from GE

Now Small and Medium Sized Businesses have a business process management solution built by a large enterprise and priced affordably. However, integration with existing data systems may surprise SMB's due to its potential complexity and cost when not done properly.

Low cost business process management solutions

Some companies are developing their own business process methodologies — such as GE WorkOut and fast track decision making (FTD) — to cost-effectively streamline processes and address the rapid changes in the market. But why? Aren’t the proven Six Sigmas, Lean and other business process methodologies of the world doing the job?

IBM’s 2009 Global CIO Study, released this week, revealed that more than half of the 25,000 CIOs surveyed said they plan to implement low-cost business processes this coming year. I started to wonder which low-cost business processes they were talking about and why they were suddenly on the rise. I did some research and came across two business process methodologies that could be considered “low-cost” — the GE Workout business process and fast track decision making.

The GE WorkOut business process isn’t new. GE developed it in the late 1980s as a way to help its own organizations and others become more lean, efficient and responsive to changes in the market. The GE WorkOut process works by bringing together a cross-functional team to solve a business challenge in 90 days. Taking on an issue identified by senior leadership, the team creates a plan with actionable items that must be implemented within the 90 days.

Companies using the GE WorkOut process — including L.L. Bean, Frito-Lay, IBM and Metropolitan Life Insurance — are doing so to streamline and simplify processes, eliminate non-value-added work and speed up the decision making process, according to C.A. Schifman and Co., a training and consulting firm. The process also allows companies to break down silos and improve employee morale. Click here to continue reading about low cost business process management solutions.

GM To Learn China Old Pro at Online Auto Sales

A great deal of excitement and coverage has been extended to GM for providing online auto sales on eBay this year. While the concept seems new in the United States, China has been selling autos online for years and with a great deal of success. Perhaps GM can learn from the Chinese (if they haven't already begun to model after them).

Online car sales fast catching on with mainland China buyers

When Yang Xiaotang, a fashion magazine editor living in Beijing, started her online shopping life five years ago, little did she imagine that one day she would buy a car with just few clicks on a website.

"It is an easy and simple mode for people who have access to computers and Internet, and also an indication that we are living in a modern society," said Yang who just ordered a Skoda Fabia online.

In recent years, with the popularization and development of the Internet, online shopping has become more and more popular, and now extends to various segments.

The fierce industry competition has forced international and domestic automakers to consider online sales as an alternative channel to boost profits.

"Online vehicle purchases are on the threshold of a boom," said He Xiaojin, marketing and public relations director of SAIC Group's passenger car operations.

"Customers can order and make payments through our online 4S (sales, service, spare parts and survey) store at sina.com and then get first priority for vehicle deliveries at the 4S store," said He. "We sold 55 Roewe sedans within one week."

"The online 4S store has complementary advantages. The Internet mode of sales is a new marketing strategy for automobile firms," said Su Yunong, subeditor of sina.com's auto channel. Click here to continue reading about online auto sales in China.

CRM in 2009: Personal, Social, Mobile, Adaptable

Now that many national brands are focusing on leveraging social media in their marketing mix new tools are cropping up to integrate social media feeds into existing customer relationship management and communication platforms. This report summarizes trends from Forrester Research.

CRM in 2009: Personal, Social, Mobile, Adaptable

By John K. HigginsCRM Buyer

Making sure that every customer gets the personal touch may be fairly easy for the owner of a neighborhood bakery, but in a mass market of millions, making each customer feel like an individual is a formidable challenge. In the information age, tools like customer relationship management software make it possible for companies to apply a personal touch to the mass market -- and that's golden.

An even more favorable estimate of the global CRM market came from Forrester Research, which pegged it at $11.7 billion in 2008.

While CRM's rate of growth may cool during 2009, experts foresee the market expanding by more than 5 percent annually for the next few years. Click here to read more about 2009 CRM trends to include social media

UPS Ups Anti Againt FedEx Kinkos with Online Printing

Web-print services are a great solution for printing brochures, flyers, tri-folds, business cards or even invitations. I've used them for years to print my Christmas cards. Because of the volume and scale of most online or web printing shops their costs are quite reasonable. Interesting that UPS has entered this market - presumably to compete with FedEx Kinkos.

UPS Offers Web-Print Service

BY MIKE ESTERL

After decades of wrestling for dominance in the U.S. shipping industry, United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. are squaring off on another front: the growing world of online printing.

UPS is rolling out marketing Monday to highlight a push into Web-based printing, in which clients can send documents such as business presentations to UPS retail stores via the Internet to have printed copies made. FedEx already offers online printing at its FedEx Office/Kinko's locations.

The competing retail chains, acquired by the two shipping companies earlier this decade, serve small businesses and executives who frequently travel. In addition to shipping ... click here to read more about UPS web-based printing.

September 03, 2009

How Green is Your IT - Free Tool from IBM Measures Impact

How green is your technology? What is its environmental impact? Can you save money by being green? This free tool from IBM and Aberdeen Research quickly and easily measures the impact of your technology and provides suggestions on how to reduce your energy impact. There's a lot of juice to be squeezed from IT departments with a minimal amount of effort.
BOSTON, MA -- 09/02/09 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), today announced the availability of a new online assessment tool designed specifically for organizations seeking to improve their Green IT capabilities, performance and ROI. The tool, which utilizes Aberdeen's primary research in Green IT and Sustainability, helps companies of all sizes identify potential areas for improvement, including server and data center virtualization, energy efficiency, end-user collaboration, and recommends steps that companies should take to address these capabilities and achieve ROI from their Green IT investments.

The tool automatically compares companies of a similar size. Large companies are compared with other large companies while midsize firms are compared with companies that have about the same number of employees.

The assessment helps companies determine their Green IT posture by benchmarking against Best-in-Class organizations, as identified through Aberdeen's PACE(TM) (Pressures, Actions, Capabilities & Enablers) research model. By completing a 10-minute online survey, participants receive a personalized summary of how they compare and can quickly identify ...continue reading.

Americans Continue To Adopt Digital Lifestyle says Forrester

Forrester Research survey shows Americans continue to adopt technology, especially in the use of social media and mobile phones. Interestingly, even though recent reports show Facebook's membership is aging Forrester's report shows younger ages use social media more each week:

While media consumption among all Americans is split evenly between new and traditional media, on average, consumers younger than 40 spend almost 2 hours a week more with new media than they do with traditional media.

Americans Continue To Adopt Digital Lifestyle

Cambridge, Mass., September 2, 2009 . . . Americans of all ages continue to adopt a digital lifestyle according to the largest annual survey of consumers' technology adoption and attitudes by Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR). "The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2009, US" is a graphical analysis of Forrester's North American Technographics® Benchmark Survey, 2009 (US, Canada) of nearly 48,000 respondents. A rich data asset for Consumer Market Research professionals' product planning and go-to-market strategy assessments, the survey includes more than 1,400 data points and data on 378 US brands. It is the largest ongoing survey in the world to explore consumer attitudes, ownership, and use of technology.

Devices. High-definition televisions (HDTVs) and home networks were two of the fastest-growing consumer technologies in 2008. Over the next five years, nearly 39 million US households will get their first high-definition set and more than 30 million homes will add network connectivity. Forty-four percent of US households have a laptop, and the average American family owns two personal computers.

Media consumption. While media consumption among all Americans is split evenly between new and traditional media, on average, consumers younger than 40 spend almost 2 hours a week more with new media than they do with traditional media.

Mobile. Four in five US households now have a mobile phone; families with older children have nearly three mobile phones per household, the most of any age segment. Eight percent of consumers own a smartphone.

"US consumers are making an inexorable transition to an all-digital, Internet-powered world," said Forrester Research Principal Analyst Charles S. Golvin. "The Internet pervades all aspects of Americans' lives, from how we shop and buy, how we communicate, how we entertain ourselves, and how we seek out information to how we manage our personal relationships. While today these digital activities are constrained to the home and the office, in the next several years consumers will increasingly rely on a ubiquitous Net that is instantaneously accessible on a wide variety of devices, from mobile phones to laptops to new form factors such as eReaders."

This is the 12th annual Consumer Technographics Benchmark mail survey. This year, Forrester performed a life stage analysis of the data that looks at technology adoption of singles and families, both young and old.

"The breadth of the survey, in conjunction with its sample sizes, allows Consumer Market Research professionals to examine and trend the behaviors and attitudes of even the most niche target markets," said Forrester Research Consumer Insights Analyst Jackie Anderson.

Forrester Consumer Technographics is the largest and longest-running survey of technology's impact on consumers. Since 1997, Forrester has surveyed more than 2 million households and individuals worldwide and today provides data and insights on consumers in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Marketing and strategy professionals rely on Forrester's Consumer Technographics data for unique insights into how technology affects the way consumers select, purchase, use, and communicate about products and services.

About Forrester Research

Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. Forrester works with professionals in 20 key roles at major companies providing proprietary research, customer insight, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more than 26 years, Forrester has been making IT, marketing, and technology industry leaders successful every day. For more information, visit www.forrester.com.

September 01, 2009

Primer on how Small Business can Benefit from Business Process Management

Business process management is not widely adopted yet by small business but small businesses stand to reap the most benefit as an industry. Here is a primer on how small businesses can start using BPM.

Getting Small Firms on Board With BPM

There are many tools available to the small business that's interested in embarking on the BPM journey but is uncertain where to start. What's most important, however, is to clear the biggest hurdle that tends to prevent that interest from flowering: reluctance to make the cultural changes necessary to embrace the technology.

The greatest obstacle small business operators face in adopting business process management (BPM) is themselves. That factor could account for the underutilization of BPM by small businesses -- and the reason BPM vendors have targeted the small business sector as a huge potential market. Of course, the abundant offerings of vendors can be confusing, and the trade jargon (SOA, Saas, ROI) can be daunting. Still, the reluctance of small firms to fully utilize BPM often comes down to one thing: attitude.

"No business is too small to take advantage of BPM. For example, even a six-person automotive shop has a finance system, sales and customer management -- even a Web site," Mike Cunningham, president of Harvard Computing Group, told CRM Buyer. "I believe it's ... orientation of the management and culture that has the major impact."

Small businesses have "corporate cultures" just as large ones do -- and a firm's culture springs from the personality of the owners or a few trusted managers. That can be a problem.

"For many small businesses, using technology is a cultural change. The owner often has most of the relevant information and for reasons of keeping control, the owner doesn't want to release it or share it," Susan Eustis, president of WinterGreen Research, told CRM Buyer.

For small firms to maximize the use of BPM, three major factors must come into play... continue reading.

Free Seminar on Using Social Media for Advertising

For those interested Overdrive Interactive is providing a free online seminar on how to use social media for advertising and engaging customers.

Overdrive Interactive CEO to Lead Social MediaMarketing Webcast for the American Marketing Association

From Advertiser Talk: Free Webcast, Sponsored by Aquent, Will Be Held November 20

Boston, MA (Advertiser Talk) 31-Aug-2009 — Harry Gold, online marketing expert and founder/CEO of Overdrive Interactive, will lead a free American Marketing Association webcast entitled “Social Media is About Socializing!” on November 20. During this one-hour event, sponsored by Aquent, the world’s leading design and marketingstaffing agency, Gold will share real case studies that:

Define what Social MediaMarketing is and how the Social Media landscape (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, etc.) fits together. Demonstrate how to weave your content and brand into the social web to create lasting connections with “friends” and “fans.”

Explain the importance of blog outreach and monitoring, and how bloggers draw content from the social web and user-generated content sites. How to add octane to your company’s Social Media Platform with hyper-targeted social media buying. How to measure social media success and report on meaningful metrics. “A lot of marketers forget that Social MediaMarketing is about socializing, not just advertising,” said Gold. “Companies must be willing to make lasting connections with consumers, join in their conversations, listen to what they have to say, and maintain those relationships. To be effective, a Social MediaMarketing program must involve a genuine exchange between brand and consumer, as well as the methodology and technology to measure and interpret that exchange.”

The free webcast will be broadcast on Nov. 20, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. EST. Details and registration information can be found on the American Marketing Association Website at http://www.marketingpower.com. For a link to the registration form, visit: http://www.OverdriveInteractive.com/AMA-Seminar.

Social Media is About Socializing! A lot of marketers forget that Social MediaMarketing is about socializing, not just advertising Companies must be willing to make lasting connections with consumers, join in their conversations, listen to what they have to say, and maintain those relationships. To be effective, a Social MediaMarketing program must involve a genuine exchange between brand and consumer, as well as the methodology and technology to measure and interpret that exchange. Gold is the architect and conductor behind Overdrive’s ROI-driven programs, and is a frequent lecturer on search engine marketing, paid search management, social mediamarketing and online media for The New England Direct Marketing Association, The In-House Agency Forum, The Ad Club, UMass Boston, Harvard University and Boston University. He is also a recognized subject matter expert and columnist for ClickZ....continue reading.

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Fire Sale on Print Ads as Newspapers Suffer from Decline

Print advertising can still be an effective tool in your marketing mix and now that newspapers are suffering wildly you can bet last year's rate sheets have been cut in half or more. Bargain on print ads anyone?

Q2 Newspaper Ad Sales Plunge; Online Falls 16%

For the second quarter of 2009, total newspaper ad sales fell 29% to $6.8 billion, down from $9.6 billion last year, according to Q2 figures released by the Newspaper Association of America.

Read more artciles on advertising at KellyRShort.com: http://kellyrshort.com/wordmaverick-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=2&search=advertising

click to enlarge

As evidence of the continued toll the recession is taking on the industry, online ad sales were significantly affected again this quarter, slipping 16% to $653 million. Online newspaper advertising declined 1.8% in all of 2008, but tumbled more than 13% in Q109.

Print Takes Hardest Hit

Total print advertising totaled $6.2 billion, a decline of 30% over the same period last year. Within the print category, national ads fell nearly 30%, while retail ads fell nearly 25%. ...continue reading.

Most to Access Internet via Mobile Device

Just figuring out your company's online web site strategy for viewing on PC's? Forrester Research predicts most will access the Internet via mobile device by 2014.

In the next decade, the mobile Internet will replicate the success story of the PC-based Internet as social networks, widgets, search engines or company websites adapt for mobile presentation

Mobile internet usage to reach 39 pct by 2014

FRANKFURT, Aug 31 (Reuters) - More than a third of consumers in Western Europe will access the Internet using their mobile phones by 2014, according to a research report published by Forrester Research on Monday.

Read more articles on mobile technology at KellyRShort.com: http://kellyrshort.com/wordmaverick-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=2&search=mobile

According to the study, mobile Internet adoption is set to grow to 39 percent in Western Europe in 2014 from 13 percent in 2008.

"The recession is forcing many consumers to reduce their spending, but they aren't cutting out their mobile subscriptions altogether," said Forrester analyst Thomas Husson. He said Internet-centric phones and flat-rate data plans stimulated mobile internet adoption.

By 2014, a third of Western European consumers will own Internet-enabled phones compared with 18 percent in 2009, Forrester said.

In Disaster Recovery Uptime Not Equal to User Productivity

This article makes a great point that in disaster recovery "uptime" is not equivalent to user productivity in a normal business as usual environment. What does that mean? When trying to recover the business after a disaster don't worry about employees having to take a few extra steps to perform their daily routine - the cost savings will more than make up for it.

Are you wasting disaster recovery budget to avoid employee inconvenience?

Most businesses recognize the importance of ensuring high availability and quick disaster recovery of their mission-critical applications and data to avoid financial losses after a system failure or disaster. But as I've talked to a number of IT organizations, I've found only a few that have properly balanced the technology costs with the needs of the organization.

Most IT organizations don't know if their critical business applications and data are properly protected. They have applied what they feel are the proper levels of technology, but often they have over-invested, possibly meeting the needs of one or two critical applications (but they don't know that for sure), with overkill for all other applications.

Most IT organizations understand that performing a business impact analysis (BIA) will help them apply the proper technology to prevent business loss. However, I have witnessed a mistake made by nearly all companies that embark for their first time on a BIA.

Is avoiding employee inconvenience mission critical?The most common mistake businesses make when determining service-level requirements, disaster recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO) is ...continue reading.

The numbers speak for themselves. A recent Forrester Research study that found interactive marketers are not reinventing the wheel when it comes to committing dollars. The survey, “Interactive Marketing Channels to Watch in 2009,” which polled 204 interactive marketing professionals online in March, found that more than 90% are clinging to direct-response tactics such as e-mail and search, while online video showed no growth from last year.

Forrester Research also recently released “U.S. E-mail Marketing Forecast 2009 to 2014,” projecting that spending on e-mail marketing in the U.S. will grow steadily to $2 billion by 2014, almost an 11% compound annual growth rate....continue reading.

These public Wi-Fi users also buy things over the Internet from the cafe hotspots, with 38% saying they use Wi-Fi to make purchases. They also click on mobile advertising, with nearly 98 % of the mobile device users clicking on ads with either an iPhone or an iPod Touch.

The survey data, compiled by JiWire, a media company that delivers ads to mobile devices, looked at usage trends across 275,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots. JiWire also surveyed 2,057 customers randomly selected at 6,500 cafe locations in the U.S. between April and June.

According to JiWire, 68% of Wi-Fi users at cafes spent more than an hour online, while 56% reported connecting daily or nearly daily. That kind of information is obviously useful to advertisers who are increasingly seeing Wi-Fi usage and mobile devices as important in selling their products, JiWire officials said.

Kevin McKenzie, CEO of JiWire, said in a statement that cafe Wi-Fi users are doing more than checking e-mail, using their connections to research products and buy goods and services, for instance, as well as using social networks when they're out of the home and office. ...continue reading.

IBM recently announced new enterprise content management (ECM) software designed to enable clients to manage their increasing volumes of information and reduce their business processing time, helping reduce cost and increase efficiency.

The new software includes a comprehensive business process management offering with analytic capabilities, new features in IBM's content management product line and full-featured ECM starter packs that are specifically designed for clients looking for smaller deployments, to cost-effectively meet their enterprise content management needs.

With the new offerings, clients can become more efficient in the way they manage their business processes and have quick and easy access to information when they need it. For example, insurance companies deal with growing volumes of information such as claims forms and insurance policies, which need to be processed in a timely and effective manner. If clients are hit by a natural disaster such as a hurricane, it is imperative that their insurance companies respond quickly. By automating the manually intensive business processes that are also prone to errors, such as underwriting, claims processing and policy issuance, insurance companies can now realize decreased processing times. This can help them improve efficiency and client satisfaction by meeting client needs promptly.